Jaya walked quickly down the thin, winding rock passages that for long had remained a secret beneath Phoenixspire's palace. Now though she was accompanied by a small troop of royal guards, all wearing the same silver armour their queen usually wore to battle. This time however she was not wearing any armour, instead dressed in her white silk dress with her golden crown upon her head. There was clearly no intent to be facing any threat, especially when she reached the intricately carved wooden doors at the end of the passage.

"Leave, I must go this alone." The guards nodded, one of them handing their fiery torch to provide her with some light. With an accepting head she grasped it, turning to bring the patterns ascribed on the door into light. Words and symbols were scattered all over the wood, roughly drawn by a single person it seemed. It was Angelic language describing the rituals and chants that would contain something of great darkness or evil.

That is how Jaya knew she was in the right place.

With a gentle push she placed her hand against the wood, a light glow seeping into it's material from her palm. As if recognizing her touch the door flashed a light back at her, before parting itself to reveal the other side.

Upon entering the room an uneasy cold shiver would settle over Jaya, making even the warmth of the torch in her hand useless. It's light however revealed further inscriptions upon both of the long walls on each side of her, finely carved by historians to detail the evolution of some kind of monster or being. As she walked down the corridor the carvings showed a man within the stars, then falling to the ground in fire. Hundreds of small depictions of people were shown burning, until finally this monster seemed to have fallen. Further along it rose again, this time depicted with a dark mist and the touch of death. Yet again it left a path of destruction until it fell once more.

Then, almost two-thirds of the way, there was the drawing of a man being executed. After that the walls became simply blank, stretching on until there was an opening. This opening was large and rectangular. Dotted within were pedestals and stands holding relics, armours, weapons and tomes. All of these lead up to a singular throne upon which there sat a dead body...

Jaya continued through the throne room silently, gazing around at the various items and books present. Her finger stroked the blade of a katana, one she recognized from her father's tales as the sword used in the first Knight's academy long ago. Just behind that there was an empty pedestal with stands for what Jaya could only assume were her father's pistols. They were missing from this collection though, along with a few other things.

The whole room seemed to have been through a struggle some time ago, as pieces of walls and stands were missing, whilst cobwebs and moss crept in the edges. It was spooky for sure, but Jaya was brave enough to cross the opening and approach the throne. A few steps let her stand almost face-to-face with the skeleton sitting up on it, allowing a few moments to examine it's haunting features. 

Once she had prepared herself though she removed her crown, reaching up to place it upon the inanimate skull.

The sound of metal and bones adjusting echoed through the caverns, accompanied by jagged movements from the skeleton itself. Within a few moments it began to move more naturally, slowly standing to tower over Jaya who had now retreated down the steps. There was no emotion on it's skeletal face, but it locked it's eyeless gaze upon it's daughter, examining her for a while as it processed what was happening. Soon enough it remembered it's past and realized it's fate. That was the longest time it had spent in the shadow realm... She'd almost found him that time...

"Why do you summon this form." The skeleton asked, it's voice dark and ethereal sounding for it had no physical voicebox. Enchanted animation was all that suspended and livened this being, originating from the crown.

"My father's needed, it seems his death has caused a rather catastrophic virus." She sighed, as if to say it was typical of him to cause such things. "And we don't need a golem this time, or a clone, or anything like that. We need the first body." As Jaya spoke she circled the room, lighting the torches on the walls with her own. Once they whole area was illuminated she put down her torch, carefully approaching one of the tomes on a pedestal.

"I know for that to work we need a demon, but don't worry I've got that sorted." A small gem then appeared in her hand, glowing a soft red. "You need to play your part." Her eyes glanced up at the skeleton, almost glaring at him as if she dared him to decline.

"You dare awaken me only to give me orders?!" The skeleton was obviously not pleased, clenching it's fists tightly. "It is my sworn duty, and the sole purpose of this chamber, to prevent the original form from being reborn. Why would I stand aside and let you unleash this monster on the galaxy again?" It moved down from the throne now, standing beside the pedestal with the book.

"I may reside beneath your palace, but you are not my queen. My queen demands the soul of this monster, and she shall have it." He was about to continue, until his gaze shifted to the book Jaya had opened. Suddenly he seized up, unable to move or speak. What he could do though was see the petrification rune inscribed on the page, clearly newly written by Jaya for this purpose. Now all the skeleton could do was watch...

"Quickly, we don't have long." Jaya spoke as she dropped the red gem onto the floor, allowing it to smash and release the figure inside. From it's shards grew The Artificer, wrapped head-to-toe in his usual cloth like a mummy, having been concealed within the gem without the skeleton's knowledge. 
"Prepare the shell, I will work the soul." The Artificer replied, moving over to the upright skeleton and placing his palms upon it's bones. Slowly he began to draw energy from the being, using it as a conduit to search the shadow realm for Dan's remaining soul.

Meanwhile Jaya crossed the room, retrieving a blood soaked waistcoat once worn by her father's original form. With a small use of magic she managed to retract the blood from the clothing, painting it across the floor back in the center of the room. After that she began moving her hands over the blood, light magic forming to craft it into the shape of a body slowly. Once the Artificer had retrieved the soul he moved over to the forming body, moving again to force the skeleton over their creation.

"Bone, Blood, and Soul. Shape yourself through time and space. Recover he who once was. Sam'anar. The Blue Demon. The Dragon Son." As he spoke he contributed his arcane magic, pulling on the timelines and void worlds to reconstruct the form.

"Return Daniel Almis to us."

A sudden sharp breath signaled his waking. For a few moments he had to breathe deeply to even function, as the feeling of air in his lungs had become so alien after the years that had passed. Still he could almost see the grasp of the shadow queen, reaching out across her realm to find him and claim his soul forever. Yet now it had been reclaimed by someone else, someone in the mortal realm. As his vision restored he could recognize the room he was in; a chamber within Phoenixspire's castle. That confirmed his thought that Jaya had recovered him.

Slowly but surely he pushed himself from the bed, managing to stumble to the door and prop himself against it's frame. Peering out from the room it seemed there was no one around, but only when he stepped out fully was he greeted by a voice.
"Lord Almis," A man spoke, revealed to be one of the palace guards. "Queen Jaya is expecting you in the Throne Room."

"Splendid." Dan replied.

"Look who decided to wake up," Jaya commented as Dan entered the throne room, being positioned by the guards infront of her throne. "You've got alot of explaining to do." Her hand gestured for the guards to step back behind the columns of the hall, leaving the two to talk in relative quiet. "In case you were unaware your death has caused your old corporation's creations to rise up and wipe out nearly all of the northern factions." She paused for a moment, letting that sink in for him. "It took me alot of reading through your old tomes to get you back, as always you have a plan B when death comes for you."

"Whilst I was reading though I learned more about the Shadow Queen, an interesting problem to have for sure." Jaya pondered, before continuing. "But that's for another time. Right now you need to help us defeat this virus and rescue your great grandson and my mother from the midst of it all. They went into the north earlier and we have not managed to contact them."

"Since this is your doing, you can clean it up."

"Ah, I did forget about that protocol." Dan sighed, scratching his head as he failed to come up with any better excuse. "But it's been a long time, the Helix machines aren't really mine anymore. They're designed to evolve of their own accord, to improve and produce on their own. They've reached a point where they govern themselves, almost like a hivemind." He began pacing somewhat, trying to think of a way he could help without having to be thrown into another quest.

"If what you're saying is true and they've wiped out the northern sectors just because I'm dead, then there's an error in their programming. Sure, there was a protocol in place to secure my assets in case of death, but not wipe out factions. Either there was a bug or..." His head shook, unable to see how this option could be viable.

"Unless someone has hacked my protocol?"

"Whatever it is, you're not getting out of it. I only brought you back so you can fix this." Jaya gestured to one of her guards, who approached and handed Dan a wand. "The Artificer made you this, since you might need help channeling magic after spending time being dead... again." She gave a small sigh. "There's a transport waiting to send you off on a scouting mission for the Knights. No doubt someone you know will be there."

"You go, you help them out, and end this mess. Then we talk about your place in this galaxy, if you're still alive by then." Her tone was harsh, giving no goodbye as she waved for the guards to escort Dan away to the hangar.